MORE than 56,000 calls made to a crisis mental health phone line in 2024 received specialist support from Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT).
The Trust’s 111 Mental Health Crisis Response Service provides a single point of contact for people in need of urgent mental health support across Essex, 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Last year, 56,872 calls were received by the service and offered mental health support via telephone or video consultation, face to face assessment, referral to specialist mental health service or signposting to another specialist or voluntary sector service.
Anyone in need can dial 111 and select the option for mental health crisis to be connected to trained staff at EPUT, a mental health and community Trust providing mental health, physical health and learning disability services to 3.2 million people across Essex and beyond.
The call will be transferred to a skilled mental health clinician who will triage the person in crisis and offer support face-to-face or over the phone and signpost and refer to appropriate services for longer-term support.
The service has prevented thousands of people from needing to attend busy hospital emergency departments, which can cause added distress, by helping patients get the support they need elsewhere.
Calls to the crisis line are managed by EPUT’s contact centre which also helps with patient queries, supports clinicians and other professionals, and handles calls from external services such as the police and ambulance service. In 2024, the contact centre handled more than 200,400 calls.
Paul Scott, Chief Executive at EPUT, said: “It is vital that people in mental health crisis are able to access the specialist support they need, when they need it.
“Our 111 phone line is the fastest way to access urgent mental health support. If you or someone you care about is experiencing mental health difficulties, please know you are not alone. We are here for you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
The 111 Mental Health Crisis Response Service does not replace 999. Anyone in mental health crisis who requires serious or life threatening emergency mental or physical care, should dial 999 immediately.